Jude Bellingham has revealed how Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's advice guided him through England's penalty shoot-out win over Switzerland and banished “horrible memories” of the nation's past failures.
The Three Lions have been eliminated from seven tournaments on penalties (including the last European Championship final against Italy), as well as suffering defeats in 1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2012.
However, England have won three of their four penalty shoot-outs under Gareth Southgate, the most recent of which came in Saturday's Euro 2024 quarter-final against Switzerland in Dusseldorf after a 1-1 draw.
All five England takers – Cole Palmer, Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold – scored to secure a 5-3 victory, with Bellingham afterwards explaining the role England manager and former Chelsea striker Hasselbaink played in helping him take his spot-kick.
“It's the first time for me to be involved in something like this, to take one,” Bellingham, 21, told BBC Radio 5Live.
“I have horrible memories from my childhood and I think the first Euro that really interested me was the one against Italy. [Euro 2012] with the dink of [Andrea] Pirlo.
“It kind of taints your memory a bit, you always think: 'England in the shoot-out, I'm not sure', but it's really nice to have that experience to add to the cupboard now.
“I had a lot of confidence in my preparation, confidence in the things I talked about with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, he has taken a huge step forward for us.
“It's the work that he does behind closed doors, with the guys willing to take that information, that puts us in those situations to be able to win.
“So this is a huge team effort. Another thing is… [goalkeepers] Dean Henderson, Aaron Ramsdale and Tom Heaton, who have been with us at this camp, have been instrumental in helping us practice penalties.
“Again, they won't get the recognition they deserve, but at the core, if they don't put in the proper effort, they don't have the proper practice to go out and execute. There are a lot of people involved in this win. It's a huge win for the team.”
Bellingham began the tournament with a superb display against Serbia (scoring England's winner that night) but admitted he has struggled to match that level since.
The Real Madrid midfielder scored a spectacular 95th-minute overhead kick to save England from last-16 exit, forcing extra-time against Slovakia instead. He was fined €30,000 and given a one-match suspension for a lewd gesture in celebration of that goal and, asked to reflect on his own tournament so far, Bellingham said: “Very eventful, yes, a lot has happened!”
“I think I started off very well in the first game. I felt great. It was one of my best games for England, but I'm always honest with myself and I feel that the two games that followed [were] Not at the level I can be, plain and simple.
“For me, it's about recognising it, analysing it, getting back to the right physical level to try again. I will never stop running or trying to play as a striker, trying to create, trying to score goals.
“If sometimes I don't succeed, so be it, but I will never stop trying for my team and my teammates.
“We seem to be hitting the right speed at the right time, so we'll see how it goes. We're still here, we live to fight another day.”
